The Lion King: The Untold Story
by Cryptated
Summary: Over the course of the Lion King franchise, Disney leaves many things more or less unexplained, or inadequately explained. My goal is to make all the pieces of the puzzle fit together, for a clearer picture.
1. Chapter 1: The Shadowlands

Flimsy structures that had once been grass cracked, deafeningly loud, as the young lioness tried futilely to stalk her prey. As paranoid as it was skinny, the lone antelope swung its head in her direction, ears twitching and eyes wide. The lioness sunk lower to the ground, trying to prevent herself from being seen. However, as she shifted, the grass beneath her paws cracked _more_, though she had thought that couldn't be possible.

_Darn_, she thought, shooting off a glare from pale green eyes as an indicator of her own frustration. As she had known it would as soon as the second crack sounded, the antelope took off. Panting, Nala offered only a weak snarl. She was too hungry, too thirsty, and too tired to run that animal down.

And even if she had got it, Scar and the hyenas would have eaten first, and she would have gotten little satisfaction from her kill. The Pride lands were a hollow replica of what they had once been… A fading shadow at sunset, lost to realities beyond the horizon.

The plants the lions usual prey fed upon had all died and withered away in the drought, and that left little food or water for the lions. As if things hadn't gotten bad enough, the hunting parties always had to feed the hyenas and Scar before any of the core members of their pride got anything to eat at all.

When Scar had stood before the pride and announced that King Mufasa and Prince Simba had both died in a stampede, Nala had been a little preoccupied crying and wiping her tears on her mother's ankles. After all, who liked to hear that their best friend was dead? But even through the dizzying confusion, she remembered the rest of what Scar had said, his politician's face on.

The hollow way in which he spoke reminded her of how her stomach felt right now – completely empty. She was no longer certain of whether the growling she was hearing was coming from her throat in frustration, or her belly in hunger. But she was certain that Scar had lied about the hyenas.

_The dawning of a new era…_

They were moochers, who never did anything to help the pride.

… _in which lion and hyena…_

They were a few light years shy of being team players in the least.

…_come together in a great and glorious future!_

All Nala knew right now was that she was pretty darn well _gloriously_ hungry.


	2. Chapter 2: What Lovers Say

Zira stretched out on her side, looking through a crack in the rocks in one of the back most sections of the cave. Her son, Nuka, was stalking around the cavern, pretending to hunt. She had been bringing him solid food for a while now, and was considering bringing the cub out for his first hunting lesson. The drought, however, left little in terms of food, and they could not currently afford to miss any kills, as they surely would with inexperienced lions on the job. She shrugged, closing her eyes. Nuka was the future king; it wasn't so important that he learned to hunt, as someday the others would be serving him.

"Nuka!" she called out from her position on the floor. "Quit wasting your energy. You can play around when the drought ends, but for now you need to settle down."

The cub paused hesitantly, glancing back at his mother. He was restless, and he did want to learn to hunt, but he wasn't disobedient. "Yes, mother," he answered glumly, sitting down.

Zira's ears pricked as she heard movement again. She opened her eyes in a glare, expecting to need to chide her son. Her expression softened when she saw her mate, Scar, entering. She pushed herself up onto her stomach, smiling. "Hello."

Scar wasn't as obviously enthusiastic about seeing her. He walked over to her with very little change in expression, sitting back on his haunches once within a few feet of her. Nuka ran over energetically, tripping over his father's paws. Scar lifted his paws out from under the cub, offering a slight push to get Nuka standing again.

"How goes the child raising?" Scar asked, watching as his son pounced at invisible targets, showing off to get attention.

Zira laughed. "Well, although he has too much energy for a cub we can barely feed."

"More energy than you, it looks like," Scar observed.

"Don't cubs always have more energy than we do? Simba had more energy than _you_, before..."

"Yes, well... That's a matter of the past. I prefer not to dwell on it."

Zira was silent for a few moments. She must have started on a tender topic. Although she knew Scar disliked his brother, for the favoritism his family had shown toward him, she was relatively certain that he didn't attribute those negative feelings to Simba. After all, Simba had been a cub, and could not possibly have known any of the circumstances – he did not, in all honesty, even seem to notice that his father and uncle did not get along. Even so, now Simba was dead, as was Mufasa, and the topic of deceased relatives was never a particularly fond one for anybody. "Sorry..."

Scar shook his head, dismissing the issue. He stood to leave, watching Nuka and Zira over his shoulder as he went. Zira stayed still, listening to his fading pawsteps as he left. When the sound was gone, she laid her chin on her paws, staring at the wall. It seemed the drought had strained them all.


End file.
